Much Needed

If Spencer Ramsey had any thoughts of pitching a perfect game tonight for Rocky Mount that went out the door on the first batter of the game when the Gryphons dropped a line drive.  The second batter reached base on an error and Ramsey is in hot water and the ball has not gone out of the infield.  No problem, as Ramsey would proceed to strike out the next three batters and nine on the night as the Gryphons take down Southern Nash 10-0 in five innings.

I don't know how anyone didn't know but you know taking the mound in the top of the fifth Ramsey had to look at the score board and saw a zero by the Firebirds score and zero beside their hits. If he had any thought of  a no hitter pitch hitter Jordan Sauls did an end to that thought with a lead off hit to right field.  The hit didn't phase Ramsey one bit as he proceeded to get the next three batters out and a Gryphon win.

The Gryphon batters did their share getting ten hits.  Center fielder Jeremy Johnson lead the way with three.  Ben Yates, Trevor Hayworth and Sam Lilley each had two.  Micah Varnell had the tenth hit.  Sam Lilley lead the rbi parade as he had two while Johnson, Yates, Varnell and Hayworth had one a piece.

Southern didn't help their pitching at all as they committed five errors and three of those occurred  after a hit they that they let get away.  Jarrett Browning was hung as the losing pitcher. Rocky  Mount committed three but Ramsey didn't get effected by the miscues.

Rocky Mount hits the halfway point in the conference season at 3-2 and they begin the back side of their conference schedule Tuesday night at Northern Nash.  Southern drops to 0-4 in conference play.

If the weather holds out the USA South Spring Sports Festival gets in high gear Friday as Softball starts at the Sports Complex.  Lacrosse cranks up at the City football stadium.  Baseball continues at Five County stadium and tennis is on campus at NCW.  Golf will take place at Benvenue CC.  I don't know if Rocky Mount has been on display like this since the ACC Golf Championships use to be held at Northgreen Counry Club.  If you get the chance check out the action.

Big East Basketball Heading To Rocky Mount

The Big East Athletic Directors held their monthly meeting on Wednesday and part of the days calendar of events was making out the basketball schedule for next year.  Next year Rocky Mount High will host the 2014 Big East basketball Tournament which will start on Monday  February 17th and conclude on that following Friday night.

Tonight Rocky Mount now with two conference losses will host Southern Nash who will come into the game 0-3 in Big East play.  No one at this point is mathematically out but three losses this early puts any team in jeopardy that the season is headed into the wrong direction.  Rocky Mount with two wins to go with those two losses only has one more home game after Thursday but will be faced with four conference road games.  They surely can not afford another loss this early with mostly road games rest of the way.

The best laid plans of mice and men.  It wasn't all that long ago I was spouting about how good the Carolina Hurricanes were doing this year and a deep run in the playoffs looked imminent.  A season ending knee injury to goalie Cam Ward and the Canes simply can not keep the other team from scoring.

Any team at any time has to have several things go their way in order to live up to any teams expectations.  First of all the healthiest always have a better chance to win than a team that is deep into their bench just to put enough bodies on the floor to play. Luck,  That puck or ball needs to bounce your way every now and then in order to you to continue.  It always helps that every player understands his roll and what he has to do to make the team work the best.  When they understand that to win doesn't always mean that they have to take the shot to win the game and become team players it makes the entire unit stronger.

During the flow of any event the coach has to pull the trigger at the right time to put another player in or in some cases decide which is the best way to proceed.   When all of these factors go your way there is a great chance to win.  When one or more fail any teams chances of winning a playoff goes down quickly.  The Carolina Hurricanes case they have become a 100 pile car crash in fog and cars keep piling into the crash.